Saturday, May 12 3:00pm ET
Avs more game-ready than rested Blues
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BOX SCORE
DENVER (AP) -- In lieu of flowers, the Colorado Avalanche gave
Peter Forsberg a victory.
|  | | Avalanche team captain Joe Sakic rips one of his two goals past Roman Turek. |
Two days after a ruptured spleen ended Forsberg's season, the
Avalanche got two goals from Joe Sakic and another superb
performance from Patrick Roy for a 4-1 victory over the St. Louis
Blues in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals Saturday.
Forsberg's teammates have been unable to see or talk to him
since his emergency surgery early Thursday.
"He was a little bit too sore for visitors," Sakic said.
"When he's up to it, guys are going to pay a visit to him."
They will have plenty to talk about after Sakic capitalized on a
rare penalty shot in the second period and scored again after a
fortuitous bounce that deflated the Blues in the third.
St. Louis also fell apart on the penalty kill, allowing two
power-play goals. The Blues had killed 38 of 39 penalties in the
first two rounds.
"We did everything we possibly could wrong," St. Louis forward
Keith Tkachuk said. "I hope to say we can't get any worse."
While Sakic finished with two goals and two assists, linemate
Milan Hejduk also scored twice as Colorado ended St. Louis'
six-game winning streak and improved to 5-0 in playoff games
without Forsberg, a six-time All-Star.
"It's pretty tough to play without Forsberg," Colorado coach
Bob Hartley said. "You can't call up anyone from the minors and
asking him to replace Peter Forsberg. We can turn around and trust
23 athletes that we have in our dressing room."
Even without Forsberg, the Avalanche still have five All-Stars,
including Roy, who made 30 saves to extend his impressive playoff
run. He has surrendered four goals in the last five games.
St. Louis' Roman Turek finished with 26 saves and gave up more
than two goals for the first time in seven games.
Coming off a taxing seven-game series against the Los Angeles
Kings, the Avalanche looked much sharper than the Blues, who were
playing for the first time in nine days following a sweep of the
Dallas Stars.
"The layoff I'm sure didn't help," St. Louis defenseman Chris
Pronger said. "We didn't come out the way we wanted to. It seemed
to be running out of position a lot."
St. Louis gained the momentum briefly on Scott Young's
short-handed goal that tied the game 25 seconds into the second
period, but the tide turned when Turek was whistled for illegally
throwing his stick at the puck -- a violation of Rule 88 (a) -- 6:20
later.
Sakic was awarded Colorado's first postseason penalty shot, and
he flipped a wrist shot past Turek's stick side following a brief
meeting with Hejduk.
Because Hejduk and Turek are from the Czech Republic, many
thought the session was a scouting report. It turned out to be a
stall tactic to allow Sakic to catch his breath.
"I told him to take his time," Hejduk said. "Bob told me he
was tired, and he asked me to tell Joe to take his time. That was
my mission."
St. Louis coach Joel Quenneville initially questioned the call
on Turek but later said referee Don Koharski had a good view of the
play. For his part, Turek said he didn't know the rule.
"I saw the puck sitting in the crease and I tried to make a
save," he said. "My stick just came out of my arm. I made the
save. If the stick comes out of your arm, it is called."
Sakic and Alex Tanguay converted a 2-on-1 at 5:18 of the third.
The play was set up when Hejduk tried to clear the puck and instead
hit a linesman along the boards. Instead of an icing call, Sakic
scooped up the puck in the neutral zone and worked a give-and-go
with Tanguay.
The Blues got five quick shots on a power play less than a
minute later but could not score on Roy, and Hejduk made it 4-1
with six minutes left with his second power-play goal of the day.
Young provided St. Louis with one if its few highlights when he
chased down a loose puck chipped in his own rebound after Roy made
the initial first save. Roy threw his stick in disgust but
celebrated less than seven minutes later when Turek threw his stick
in desperation.
"I think we'll all be better based on having one game under our
belt now that we're in a series," Quenneville said. "We know that
we have to be at our best."
Colorado, 6-0 when scoring first in the playoffs, took a 1-0
lead on Hejduk's power-play goal 4:32 into the game while former
Avalanche defenseman Alexei Gusarov was in the penalty box for
cross-checking.
St. Louis killed 34 straight power plays to start the playoffs
but Hejduk's goal was the second in six chances against the Blues.
It also snapped a streak of 23 straight kills on the road.
Game notes
Quenneville was an assistant with Colorado when the
Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 1996. Young and Gusarov also were
on that team. ... Sakic penalty shot was the 39th in the postseason
in NHL history. ... With the game out of reach, tempers flared.
Colorado D Adam Foote and St. Louis F Scott Mellanby were penalized
for fighting with 4:51 left. ... The Avalanche are playing in the
conference finals for the third straight year. It is the first
appearance for the Blues since 1986. ... Sakic is 4-for-4 on
penalty shots in his career.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
St. Louis Clubhouse
Colorado Clubhouse
Sakic makes Avs' first postseason penalty shot memorable
RECAPS
Colorado 4
St. Louis 1
New Jersey 3
Pittsburgh 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Colorado's Milan Hejduk scores the first goal of the series with a shot past Roman Turek.
avi: 1377 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN
Cable Modem
Joe Sakic rips one into the back of the net.
avi: 855 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN
Cable Modem
Scott Young gets stopped by Patrick Roy on the initial shot, but is there for the rebound.
avi: 1376 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN
Cable Modem
Joe Sakic beats Roman Turek on the penalty shot.
avi: 1253 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN
Cable Modem
 ESPN's Brain Engblom catches up with Joe Sakic after his 4-point game against the Blues.
wav: 455 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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